Impact of the type of quench aging after hyperquenching on the mechanical strength properties of AW-7020 alloy

The article attempts to determine the influence of selected types of the heat treatment on the strength properties of the AW-7020 alloy used in the shipbuilding industry. The text presents information on the applied types of heat treatment. There are presented the results of the static tensile test of the material after its earlier hyperquenching and aging (natural and artificial) as well as comparison to the test results of the alloy without heat treatment. To illustrate the nature of the supersaturation and aging process, a test was carried out for a series of samples in a transitional state. During the tests for all the samples were determined: elongation at rupture and reduction of area at fracture, strength limit Rm and proof stress Re0.2. The results of the tests showed that the choice of the type of aging after saturation has significant importance for the strength properties of the AW-7020 alloy. It has been shown that it is possible to significantly accelerate the achievement of higher strength properties of the tested alloy, replacing the natural aging of the material with artificial aging.